Geobiology Group (Duda Lab / Departmental Lab)

Understanding the Co-evolution of Life and Earth Through Deep Time

Our research focuses on how biological processes interact with and transform environments, and how the resulting traces become preserved, altered, or lost in the geological record. We investigate the formation and taphonomy of biosignatures — fingerprints of life — by combining studies of rocks and fossils with investigations of modern analogues and experimental systems. This also includes distinguishing biosignatures from products of abiotic processes and understanding how geological alteration can obscure, modify, or erase that distinction.

We integrate field and laboratory studies with experimental and analytical approaches from geomicrobiology, paleontology, sedimentology, mineralogy, and biogeochemistry. We use this knowledge to reconstruct early life and the environments in which it evolved. Topics include:

• Formation and taphonomy of biosignatures
• Origins & early evolution of life on Earth
• Origins and evolution of life on early Earth
• Paleoecology and taphonomy of fossil Lagerstätten
• Geo-bio interactions and environmental change

By connecting biological processes with their geological record, we seek to understand how life interacted with changing environments and how these interactions shaped the Earth system through deep time. Our research contributes to understanding planetary habitability and recognizing potential biosignatures on other worlds, linking our work to astrobiology.